As far as iconic CHARACTERS in movie history, here are ones that come to my head in the past 5 years (2009-2013):

Gabourey Sidibe’s Precious in PreciousMo’Nique’s Mary Jones in PreciousChristoph Waltz’s Hans Landa in Inglourious BasterdsZack Galifinakis’ Alan in The HangoverJessie Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg in The Social NetworkNatalie Portman’s Nina in The Black SwanQuvenzhane Wallis’ Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern WildJennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany in Silver Lining’s PlaybookI feel like Sandra Bullock’s role in Gravity could be looked at as iconic in years to come.

Heath Ledger’s Joker, The Dark KnightDaniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood (and only because of the “milkshake” screne frankly)

I don’t think the rest of those will become iconic in any way with regular audiences. Maybe with cinephiles, but that’s different from regular people. If I mentioned most of the characters in this thread to my parents or my siblings they wouldn’t know what the hell I was talking about.

For me, “iconic” is if I mention Holly Golightly and someone immediately knows what character/film I am talking about and who played that part. If I go to someone and mention “Juno McGuff” they’re going to look at me like who the hell is that?

i agree VIV..iconic to me means an instantrecognition of ACTOR, CHARACTER AND FILM..

Very few from the last 10 years or so.Biographies dont really count for me causewe already know who the person is so i tendto relate this to original characters, maybe a fewadapted from plays and books…

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS as Daniel Plainview in TWBBNATALIE PORTMAN as Nina Sayers in Black SwanKEVIN SPACEY as Lester Burnham in A merican BeautyFRANCES MC DORMAND as Marge Gunderson in FargoLEO AND KATE as Jack and Rose in TITANIC

I do disagree about Juno not being an iconic character. I mean the movie is named Juno and it was a very popular movie most people if you mention the character juno no exactly what movie she was in, the basic story, and maybe the dont know the actors name but they could definitely pick her out of a lineup. I honestly think more people would know who youre talking about if you mention Juno that in you say Daniel Plainview. Everyone talks about the character but I havent seen the movie so would never know that character by name, and most people who havent seen the movie would probably be the same way.

I think in order for something to be iconic it would have to be a nice, strong mix of known by movie fans and known by a nice chunk of the general public. Holly Golightly is a good example of an iconic character. An older iconic character (as I guarantee if you stopped 10 random people on the street now and asked who Holly Golightly was I would say 2 people, at the most, would know), but an iconic character nonetheless. She’s not as well known as someone like The Joker, but that’s only natural with time.

I disagree about Juno, though. At least when comparing Juno to Daniel Plainview. Between the two, Juno is much more iconic, at least to this era of time. Far more people saw Juno than There Will Be Blood, and Juno made a bigger mark on pop culture. Not as big as someone like Regina George (who I would call one of the top three most iconic characters of that decade), but still far bigger than Daniel Plainview. There Will Be Blood was a movie seen by movie fans, not the typical American public.

There is no way Juno isn’t iconic. People may not recognize her last name, but all you have to do is say “Juno” and people automatically think of a pregnant Ellen Page in a sweatshirt jacket and oversized jeans. Already a hugely iconic character.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln, I think, may be seen as more iconic than his Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Yes, There Will Be Blood is the better movie, not saying that this performance isn’t iconic. But anytime you see Day-Lewis on television for interviews, clips of his work, performances, I feel Lincoln is the performance that made him a star and more recognizable to the wider American public.

Do we know how Lincoln played with younger audiences/what percentage of tickets were bought by people under, say, 35? Just not sure how familiar younger audiences became with Day-Lewis through Lincoln (if he wanted to crossover, he should probably work with Nolan).